New Developments in Ord Cold Case Murder

A Valley County District Court judge sustained a motion from John Oldson's attorney to disclose evidence the defense says points to three new suspects in the 1989 murder of Cathy Beard.

John Oldson pleaded not guilty in Valley County District Court Tuesday to the 1989 murder of Cathy Beard of Ord.

But the focus in the courtroom was less on Oldson and more on a shocking, graphic diary account his attorney says points to a different theory in the disappearance and murder of Cathy Beard.

The judge sustained a motion from the defense to disclose evidence the defense says points to three new suspects.

The evidence is in the form of 56 photo-copied diary pages, dating from 1984-1989, which the defense says outlines the kidnapping, sexual abuse and murders of four different women-- one of those being Cathy.

The defense argued the diary was written by a woman who lived near Chambers at the time of Cathy's disappearance, and is now 88-years-old and living in Ord. They say the two men mentioned throughout the diary pages are now both dead.

But Valley County Attorney Glenn Clark says there's no proof that the accounts written in the diary pages are true.

"This matter has been investigated by various agencies, extensively already, including people from the Attorney General's office," Clark says. "It's a consensus among all of us that it is nothing more than a hoax."

Clark says the diary's claim that the three people hit Cathy with their truck is just one example of why it's a hoax, because autopsy results contradict that.

But the defense maintains that their new evidence should be investigated to the fullest.

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